


And The Crystal Ants March

by Prankstyr



Category: Bastion
Genre: Crying, M/M, crystal ants are a shitty metaphor for tears that I use sometimes, for the kink meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 14:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prankstyr/pseuds/Prankstyr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>TEARS EVERYWHERE<br/>BABIES MAKING GAY KISSY FACES<br/>GO GO GO<br/>...was the prompt I gave myself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And The Crystal Ants March

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted myself on the kink meme: http://bastionkinked.dreamwidth.org/404.html?thread=59796#cmt59796

The Kid was crying. Not something I'd ever expected to see - he smiled more than me and the old man put together. 

I always wondered if he had a name. Other than "The Kid," that is, and other than "come with me." I of course introduced myself the moment we returned to the Bastion. Zulf of the Ura. Rucks called me a proper gentleman. I didn't know what else to be.

Not after I lost her.

I couldn't breathe for long enough to get out that introduction until we got back. Then I straightened my back and gave my smile that everyone loved (that she loved more than everyone) and talked and made my acquaintance with those two fools that I somehow ended up loving so much.

And after all that happened, all the moronic things I said and did, he still managed to drag me back to the Bastion. Maybe it wasn't just him that was keeping me there. Maybe I was the one drawn there and he was just the manifestation of that.

Maybe that's why I hated him so much more.

He tried to explain why he chose what he did through those horrible tears. All I could hear about his fucking binary was that I was here and I was still alone when I could have been not.

"So you chose you and Zia over me," I said.

"No!" the Kid hissed, a new wave of tears coming. "I didn't mean to choose anyone!"

"Zulf, let him be. He did what he thought was best." That was Rucks. Piss off, old man.

I sniffed. Not going to cry - I wasn't a child anymore, and grown men don't cry around other grown men. Not that the Kid seemed to care about that, with all those tears running everywhere. Every single one broke my heart a little more. "I could have had her back, you bastard."

"What about Zia? What about me? What would we get, huh?" He wasn't pulling any punches, that's for damn sure.

"I don't know!" My voice shouldn't have broken. "I don't care!" If I could've gotten up, if I was healed enough to stand, I would've punched him. Never mind that he could probably break me with one finger. I'm glad he went running off to Zia, to someone who would smile at him before I tried.

I stayed angry at him for a long time. I stayed angry at myself for a long time.

Even then, it wasn't completely unexpected the first time he came to me after the Evacuation, blushing and shy (for once), his oh-so-strong hands kneading one another as he mumbled about how he liked me and how he wanted to kiss me, just once. I have no idea what I was thinking to justify my saying yes - I could still hardly feel anything except the rage and the overpowering loneliness but hell, I thought maybe he could make me feel not lonely for the first time in a long time.

Still, I was surprised when it worked.

I thought I had made my peace with my own mind. We had a deal, right? We had a good thing going. The the Kid had to go and fuck it all up with his beautiful tanned skin and the lattice of scars crisscrossing his everything and that beautiful little grin he only let shine once in a while. Fuck him. Literally. I did. 

To be fair, there was a whole lot of that aforementioned fucking that went on in both directions between us. I needed somebody to fill the void and I was utterly selfish about it. He needed somebody to keep him anchored, keep him awake, alive, sane. Mutually beneficial arrangement. Best "arrangement" I'd ever made.

I started to feel a little bit happy again. There was a seed of joy and contentment somewhere deep inside my mind and the Kid planted it. Zia and Rucks and the Bastion and the world we explored helped it to grow.

The Kid and I took to taking catnaps together when we could. I was always tired and ready to sleep and he was always ready to latch onto me like a swampweed to a log. After all, what was a proper gentleman to do? Especially when he looked at me with his big brown eyes and mumbled "please" with the same look he gave me when we first met. Can't say no. Can't ever say no to him.

And it's not like I would want to. 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I can be found at 2fab4lyffe.tumblr.com.
> 
> Leave a comment or I'll cry a little bit inside ;;;;;;(


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